THE 1935 QUEZON STRIP
SEALS
By Nemy L. Rivera
The
colorful political leader, Manuel L. Quezon (1878 – 1944) had on
several occasions demonstrated his steadfast support for the campaign
against the White Plague.
In 1934,
when the Philippine Islands Anti-Tuberculosis Society was in
financial distress due to the Depression and other adverse factors,
the then Senate Pres. Quezon steered the passage of the Sweepstakes
Law that allocated 25% of its proceeds to the Society. A year
later, Quezon, now the first president of the Philippine
Commonwealth, authorized the Society to make use of his birthday to
generate income. Thus came about the nationwide Quezon’s Birthday
Anti-TB Balls which were social milestones of that period. The
Post Office even used special slogan mail cancellers to publicize the
celebrations. The issuance of the now rare Quezon’s Birthday strip
seals was a corollary activity. There are no records of who
designed and printed these seals or how many were issued. Existing
samples show that the seals were printed in a vertical sheet format,
with straight edges at left and right sides and with horizontal
roulette 6 1/2 between strips of unknown number per sheet.
While
strictly not Christmas material, the Quezon seals are collected
together with Christmas seals, because these were listed in Green’s
Catalog of the Tuberculosis Seals of the World, considered by many
as the Bible of Christmas seal collectors. These are listed under
Philippine Islands as # 2.1 (for the pale blue type) and # 2.2 (for
the brown type). For reasons not known, the brown type is now
scarcer and much more difficult to obtain than the blue type.